| Creed III | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Michael B. Jordan |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Based on | Characters bySylvester Stallone |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Kramer Morgenthau |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Joseph Shirley |
Production companies |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 116 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
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| Budget | $75 million[2] |
| Box office | $276.1 million[3][4] |
Creed III is a 2023 Americansportsdrama film starring and directed byMichael B. Jordan in his directorial debut, and produced by Jordan,Irwin Winkler,Charles Winkler, William Chartoff, David Winkler,Ryan Coogler, Elizabeth Raposo,Jonathan Glickman andSylvester Stallone. It is the sequel toCreed II (2018), the third installment in theCreed film series, and the ninth overall in theRocky franchise. The film was written by Keenan Coogler andZach Baylin from a story they co-wrote with Ryan Coogler. The film sees the accomplished and recently retired boxerAdonis Creed (portrayed by Jordan) come face-to-face with his childhood friend and former boxing prodigy Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors).Tessa Thompson,Wood Harris, Mila Davis-Kent,Florian Munteanu, andPhylicia Rashad also star.
A thirdCreed film was officially announced in September 2019, alongside Jordan's return; he was also confirmed to be making his directorial debut in October 2020. Majors and the remainder of the cast joined between November 2021 and September 2022;Creed III is the first film in the series not to feature Sylvester Stallone reprising his role asRocky Balboa, though he remained as a producer.Principal photography began in January 2022 and lasted until that April, with filming locations includingLos Angeles,Tampa, andGeorgia.
Creed III premiered inMexico City on February 9, 2023, which coincided with Jordan's 36th birthday, and was released in the United States on March 3 as the first film distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures after its acquisition byAmazon and the dissolution ofUnited Artists Releasing.[5] The film received positive reviews from critics for Jordan's direction, the story, performances, and fighting sequences. Like its predecessors, the film was a box office success, grossing over $276 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossingCreed film and the second highest-grossingRocky film. A sequel is in development.
In 2002,Los Angeles,Adonis "Donnie" Creed sneaks out with his best friend and brother type figure,Golden Gloves champion"Diamond" Dame Anderson, to watch him compete in an underground boxing match. After Dame's victory, he tells Donnie about his aspirations to turn professional and become a world champion. During a detour at a liquor store, Donnie impulsively attacks a man named Leon, and Dame is arrested while Donnie escapes, running away from the scene.
In 2024, six years after beatingViktor Drago[a] and three years after beating Ricky Conlan to avenge his only career defeat,[b] Donnie has retired from boxing to focus on his wife Bianca and their 6-year-old daughter Amara, whose hearing impairment has since led the family to become fluent inAmerican Sign Language. Donnie runs the Delphi Boxing Academy withTony "Little Duke" Evers Jr. and is promoting his protégé, world champion Felix "El Guerrero" Chavez, in a match against Drago. While the two watch the declining health of Donnie's adoptive mother Mary-Anne, Amara aspires to become a boxer like Donnie, which gets her into trouble at school when she punches a bully.
Released from prison, Dame reconnects with Donnie and shares his desire to resume his boxing career. Donnie reluctantly invites Dame to the gym, and hires him as Chavez's sparring partner, but his presence draws scorn from Chavez and Duke as Dame is overly aggressive and hostile. Dame later visits Donnie's home, where he meets his family and recounts their time together at a group home, a story that Bianca had never heard. Privately, Dame asks for a title shot against Chavez, but Donnie declines. After Drago is attacked by an unknown assailant at a party for Bianca's record label, which casts doubt on his ability to participate in his upcoming fight, Donnie nominates Dame as Drago's replacement. Despite it being his first professional bout, Dame manages to win the unified heavyweight championship by implementing dirty tactics such as a knee and elbow, as well as targeting Chavez's shoulder, which Dame had intentionally damaged during one of their sparring sessions.
Following the match, an uneasy Donnie visits Mary-Anne, who shows him letters Dame had written to Donnie while in prison that she kept from him due to her believing that he was a bad influence. One letter contains a picture showing Dame with a fellow inmate that Donnie recognizes as Drago's assailant. Realizing that Dame planned the attack, Donnie confronts him, and Dame admits that he manipulated him into getting the title shot. Donnie is unable to open up to Bianca about his guilt over Dame, who revels in his newfound fame and publicly slanders Donnie as a fraud who turned his back on him.
Mary-Anne suffers another stroke and dies. After her funeral, Donnie confesses to Bianca about the night of Dame's arrest, revealing Leon to be the abusive caregiver in their group home before he was adopted. After Donnie attacked Leon at the liquor store, the ensuing brawl with Leon's friends caused Dame to brandish a gun. After Dame was arrested, Donnie never contacted Dame out of guilt.
Publicly taunted by Dame and encouraged by Bianca, Donnie decides to come out of retirement and challenges Dame for the championship, which he accepts. After training with Duke and a recovered Drago, Donnie faces Dame in the "Battle of Los Angeles" atDodger Stadium. The fight is a grueling, evenly matched affair. In the final round, Donnie has visions of his abusive foster home and Dame's life in jail, which leads to Donnie being knocked down. He manages to just beat the count, then goes on to knock Dame out and regain the championship. Afterward, Donnie reconciles with Dame, with both men admitting it was not the other's fault. Donnie then joins Bianca and Amara in the ring in the empty stadium, where he pretends to box with Amara.
Additionally,Barry Pepper provides the narration for the televised "Anderson v Chavez" promo, while boxerTerence Crawford also appears as Lorenzo "Nightmare" Jones, a sparring partner. Sports television personalityStephen A. Smith, news anchorJessica Holmes, boxerCanelo Álvarez and his wife Fernanda Gómez, and singerKehlani make cameo appearances as themselves. Also appearing as themselves are:boxing refereesKenny Bayless, Russell Mora and Tony Weeks;ring announcersJimmy Lennon Jr. andDavid Diamante; and broadcastersTodd Grisham,Jessica McCaskill,Al Bernstein,Mauro Ranallo, and Christopher Mannix. Michael B. Jordan's father, Michael A. Jordan, also cameos as aGolden Gloves referee.
In December 2018, in response to the suggestion thatDeontay Wilder could play the son ofClubber Lang in a potential sequel toCreed II (2018), Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan expressed interest.[7][8] In September 2019, Jordan confirmed thatCreed III was officially in active development.[9]
In February 2020,Zach Baylin was announced as screenwriter, with Jordan confirmed to reprise his role asAdonis Creed.[10] In October 2020, it was reported that Jordan would reprise his role of Adonis Creed and make hisdirectorial debut inCreed III.[11][12][13] Producers had expressed interest in having Jordan serve as director, withIrwin Winkler stating that he had personally offered the position to the actor.[14] In April 2021, Stallone announced he was not cast in the film.[15] By June 2021, Jonathan Majors entered talks to portray Adonis's new adversary.[16] In November 2021, it was officially confirmed that Majors was cast.[17] In April 2022, it was announced thatWood Harris andFlorian Munteanu would reprise their roles from previousCreed films, andSelenis Leyva, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Spence Moore II, and Mila Davis-Kent joined the cast.[18] In September 2022, Mexican boxerCanelo Álvarez was cast in as a cameo.[19]
Stallone expressed distaste for the darker direction the filmmakers wanted to take the film in, stating: "That's a regretful situation because I know what it could have been. It was taken in a direction that is quite different than I would've taken it. It's a different philosophy — Irwin Winkler's and Michael B. Jordan's. I wish them well, but I'm much more of a sentimentalist. I like my heroes getting beat up, but I just don't want them going into that dark space. I just feel people have enough darkness."[20] Jordan meanwhile wanted to explore Adonis' early life & backstory.[21] Stallone refused to see the released film due to the involvement of producerIrwin Winkler, whom Stallone has called a "parasite" for "picking clean the bones" of characters he (Stallone) created. Winkler purchased the rights for the Rocky character from Stallone in 1976.[22]
Principal photography began in late January 2022, and Jordan was seen on the set inAtlanta, Georgia.[23]Kramer Morgenthau returned as the cinematographer for the film, after having done so forCreed II.[citation needed] The film was partially shot onIMAX-certified SonyCineAlta Venice cameras and thePanavisionanamorphic format, making this the first film in the series, and the first sports film in history, to do so.[24] Filming later ended on April 6, 2022.[citation needed]
Jordan said the fight choreography was heavy influenced by anime series such asMegalobox,Naruto Shippuden,Hajime No Ippo, andDragon Ball Z.[25][26]
In May 2022, the final writing credits were officiated.Ryan Coogler (director and co-writer ofCreed, executive producer onCreed II, and producer onCreed III) received story credit with Keenan Coogler and Baylin, and the latter two received screenplay credit.[27]Tyler Nelson and Jessica Baclesse served as co-editors.[28]
In October 2022, it was announced that composer Joseph Shirley would scoreCreed III. Shirley was previously part ofLudwig Göransson's team scoring the first two films in the series, as a technical score engineer and score programmer.[29] On November 20, 2022, Jordan announced thatJ. Cole andDreamville executive produced the soundtrack.[30][31]
Creed III premiered inMexico City on February 9, 2023,[32] and was released in the United States on March 3. It was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on November 23, 2022, byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM) in the United States, andWarner Bros. Pictures internationally (excluding the Nordics),[33] but on July 28, it was delayed to March 3.[34]
It is the first MGM film to not be distributed byUnited Artists Releasing after Amazon shut down the distributor's operations and folded it into MGM.[5]
Creed III was released on premium video-on-demand services on April 1, 2023.[35] The film was released forBlu-ray,DVD, and4K UHD on May 23, 2023.[36]
Creed III grossed $156.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $119.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $276.1 million.[4][3]
In the United States and Canada,Creed III was released alongsideDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village andOperation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, was projected to gross $38–40 million from 4,007 theaters in its opening weekend.[2][37] The film made $22 million on its first day, including $5.45 million from Wednesday and Thursday night previews (the best total of the trilogy), increasing estimates to $50 million. The weekend totaled $58.7 million, topping the box office.[38] The film made $27.3 million in its sophomore weekend, finishing second behind newcomerScream VI,[39] and then $15.3 million in its third weekend finishing in third place behindScream VI and newcomerShazam! Fury of the Gods.[40]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 88% of 338 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Stepping out from Rocky Balboa's iconic shadow at last, theCreed franchise reasserts its champion status thanks to star Michael B. Jordan's punchy direction and a nuanced heel turn by Jonathan Majors."[41]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[42] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled byPostTrak gave it a 92% positive score, with 80% saying they would definitely recommend it.[38]
Lovia Gyarkye ofThe Hollywood Reporter praised the fighting sequences and said: "If we take its claims at face value,Creed III is a rousing success, a slick, cool and inspiring narrative about boxing's prince trying to defend his title and honor."[43]Chicago Sun-Times'sRichard Roeper gave the film three out of four stars, writing "What makesCreed III a consistently engrossing watch is the gritty and violent back story, and the present-day tension between two former best friends whose lives were forever changed by a single confrontation that went sideways and who now have been reunited after nearly 20 years, with one man on top of the world and the other about two degrees from reaching the boiling point as he simmers with rage and resentment."[44]
At the2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards,Creed III was nominated forBest Performance in a Movie (Jordan).[45] It received a nomination for Best Viral Campaign for a Feature Film at the 2023Golden Trailer Awards.[46][47] The film and Jordan was respectively nominated for Best Picture and Best Actor at the6th Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Film Awards.[48] At theBlack Reel Awards of 2024 the film received four nominations:Outstanding Director and Outstanding Lead Performance to Jordan, Outstanding Supporting Performance toMajors andOutstanding Soundtrack.[49]
On February 2, 2023, Jordan confirmed that a fourthCreed film was happening "for sure" and that spin-offs were also being considered.[50] When asked about the future of theCreed movie franchise in an interview withScreenRant Plus, Jordan said:
But you will see theCreed-verse continue to grow and expand. I think that we invested in some really interesting characters that I think a lot of people were responding to. I have to give a political answer to that. [laughs] There's going to be more of the Creed family, and there's gonna be more of some of the characters that you love from this movie. I just don't know what package it's going to be in yet.[51]
In November 2023, producer Irwin Winkler confirmed that a fourth film was in active development, with Jordan returning as director.[52] Jordan has also expressed interest in Stallone returning for a fourth film, believing there was always space for Rocky to return.[21] In March 2025, Jordan toldThe Hollywood Reporter, "I would like to work with [Jonathan] Majors again. I would love to makeCreed IV together — among other projects."[53]
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